204 



GLEANINGS'IN BEE CULTURE. 



MAR. 



to handle them as I pleased, putting: them all back 

 as before, except that 1 set a frame of honey, from 

 the outside of the hive, on each side, near the bees, 

 as a precaution against starving-. 1 also cleared 

 the bottom - board of dead bees and dirt. It has 

 been now nearly a month since this was done, and 

 an examination to-day shows bees in fine ranges of 

 comb in' a semi-quiet state, while the other colony, 

 not disturbed, are all dead, except a few bees in 

 one space; so it would seem that the handling- of 

 this colony of bees proved beneficial rather than the 

 reverse. 



Now, do not understand that I recommend a gen- 

 eral handling- or disturbing of bees in winter, for I 

 do not; but hereafter, if I think a benefit can be 

 made to a colony by handling it, either to keep it 

 from starving or otherwise, I shall not refrain from 

 so doing for fear that I shall make matters worse. 

 In all such departures from the regular beaten 

 path we should always go slow, always using but a 

 very small part of the apiary for experiment; and 

 then, if wrong, no great loss can result. 



Bees have had no chance of flying here since the 

 first Wednesday in November, and are beginning to 

 suffer from their long confinement, about one col- 

 ony in five out of doors showing signs of uneasiness. 

 Those in the cellar are in perfect condition. 



Borodino, N. Y., Feb. 28, 1887. G. M. Doolittle. 



I am not surprised, friend D.; in fact, I 

 presume many of you remember tlie experi- 

 ment I have often mentioned, of bumping 

 a hive every day all winter long, to see if 

 the bees were alive. Of course, they were 

 kept in the cellar, and they came out in the 

 spring stronger than when put away. I 

 think that the most of us are a good deal 

 inclined to jump at conclusions, and to get 

 notions in our heads. 



LEGISLATION IN EEGABD TO BEE 

 CULTURE. 



AND THE KIND OF LEGISLATION TH.\T MIGHT NOT 

 PLEASE US. 



ETE extiact the following from the Amer- 

 ican Bee Journal of Feb. 28 : 



That legislation which we mentioned last 

 week as being sought to be made in Michi- 

 gan is stirring up the bee-men there. Mr. 

 S. Shoup, of Coloma, Mich., has sent us a copy of 

 the bill. It was introduced by Mr. McCormick, and 

 recommended by the Committee on Roads and 

 Bridges. It reads as follows: 



A bill to prohibit the keeping of bees in large 

 quantities near any public highway or dwelling- 

 house not owned or occupied by the keeper or own- 

 er of such bees. 



Section 1. The People of the State of Michigan en- 

 act. That it shall not be lawful for any person to 

 keep to exceed five stands of bees within 25 rods 

 of any public highway, or less than 'ih rods of any 

 dwelling-house not occupied by such keeper or 

 owner of bees. 



Sec. 2. Every keeper or owner of bees neglect- 

 ing or refusing to comply with the provisions of the 

 preceding section after due service of written no- 

 tice, shall be subject to a penalty of $o for each 

 day's neglect or refusal, which may be enforced 

 and collected before any court of competent juris- 

 diction. 



Mr. Geo. E. Hilton, President of the Michigan 

 State Bee-Keepers' Association, writes thus: 



This bill, should it pass, would be a great calamity 

 to our pui-suit, and to the State as well. As it is al- 

 most a necessitj' to have our bees reasonably near 

 both, and it simply means the extinction of the 



honey-tee, and a terrible calamity to the horticul- 

 turist, I feel it my dutj- to urge evei-y bee-keeper in 

 the State to wiite to their Senators and Kepre- 

 senatives, asking their assistance in defeating any 

 such bill. Just deluge tlieui with letters. Use the 

 best arguments at your command to prove that our 

 rights ai-e being infringed upon, and that we are 

 alive to our intcre.sts, and demand our rights. 



Friend Newman suggests that Prof. Cook 

 is the man to look after this, as he is near 

 to the State capital, and as his name itself 

 would have sufficient weight to cause the 

 matter to be carefully looked into. 



Since the above was in type we find the 

 following from the pen of Prof. Cook, in the 

 American Bee Journal : 



The "Bill to wipe apiculture out of Michigan" 

 (that is my title to it) will never pass, and will prob- 

 ably never be called up. Michigan aims to foster 

 her important industries, and not to throttle them. 

 Such a bill could not get a dozen votes in the Mich- 

 igan Legislature. Still, I hope every bee-keeper in 

 Michigan will write to Hon. Mr. M<-Cormlck, Lan- 

 sing, Mich., urging him to withdraw the bill. It will 

 serve to enlighten him and others as to the status 

 of this business. 



Later.— The following comes to hand from 

 friend Bingham, which settles the matter. 



J State op Michigan, 

 ( Representative Hall. 

 T. F. Bingham, Esq.: 



Yours in regard to House Bill No. 89, relative to 

 keeping of bees, is received. In reply, allow me to 

 say the 1)111 came up yesterday in the general as- 

 sembly, and I had it tabled. It will not be called up 

 again. I have no intention of legislating the bee- 

 l)!isiness out of the State. The bill was introduced 

 at the request of a gentleman who has been both- 

 ered, I presume, by some one's bees. 



Lansing, March 5, 1887. Jas. W. McCormick. 



GILBERT M. DOOLITTLE. 



A SHORT sketch OF HIM BY A NEIGHBOR. 



BM. DOOLITTLE was born April 14, 1846, 

 near hi.- present location, in the town of 

 Spafford, Onondaga Co., New York. His 

 * parents were natives of Connecticut, and 

 moved to this State a few years before he 

 was born; hence the thoroughness, energy, and 

 activity of the " Yankee " are largely manifested in 

 the subject of this sketch. From his earliest youth 

 Mr. D. has been an admirer of the busy bee, taking 

 great interest in them when kept bj- his father. 

 Later on, nearly all the bees in this section of 

 country perished with foul brood, so that from 1856 

 to 1862 a hive of bees was a rarity. After this the 

 disease seemed to abate, so that, in 1868, bees were 

 quite common again. 



As 1868 was a splendid honey season, bee-talk 

 was rife In this locality, which again brought to 

 life old ambitions which had been crushed out by 

 the former loss by disease among the bees, so that 

 the spring of 1869 found Mr. D. with two colonies 

 of bees of his own, as the starting-point to his 

 l)resent apiary. Wishing to know for himself all 

 of the minutisp of this (to him) intei-esting pursuit, 

 he procured nearly all the bee-books of that day 

 and subscribed for the bee-papers. As his ambition 

 led him toward the practical side of bee-keeping, 

 Quinby's Mysteries of Bee-Keeping Explained was 

 his favorite, the pages of which were as familiar 

 to him as a nursery rhyme. His intense desire to 

 learn and investigate the bees in every particular 

 has been such that he has dreamed of them at 

 night, and thought of them in his working hours 

 to an almost absorbing extent, and to-day he is 



